Quack-grass plow.



C. E. GLASSPOOLE.

.QUAGK GRASS PLOW. APPLICATION FILED JULY 23, 1907.

'34, Patented Jan. 4, 1910.

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Cha/rZsZ'. GZa/ss oaolg C; E. GLASSPOOLB. QUAGK GRASS PLOW. A'PPLIOATIONIILED'JULY 23, 1907.

Patented Jan.4, 1910.

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CHARLES E. GLASSPOOLE, OF S'I. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

QUACK-GRASS PLOW.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Jan. 4;, 1910.

Application filed July 23, 1967. Serial No. 385,204.

To all whom itmay concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES E. GLASS- rooLE, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residingat St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State ofMinnesota, have invented a new and has for its primary object toentirely remove quack grass from the earth in which it grows.

Heretofore it has usually been customary in -the removal of quack grassto cut it as.

distinguished from removing it by the roots from the soil as in mypresent invention and it is obvious that the mere cutting does notprevent the grassgrowing again, but on the "other hand causes the rootsto spread and "tend to choke '-the soil.

and kill any other growth in Lands in-somesections of the countrybecome-so choked with quack grass as to render them entirelyunproductive and I believe myself to be the first tame a machine whichwill entirely remove such grass by the roots and thus increase theproductiveness of the soil and enhance the value of lands.

Among further objects of my invention are simplicity of construction andgreater effectiveness in 0 eration.

By, the use o -my invention the quack grass is removed, and'the soilplowed and mellowed by a-single operation.

In the. accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, Figure1 is a side view of my invention; Fig. 2 is a plan view; Fig. 3 is asection offFig; 2 taken on the line X-X, and Fig. 4 is a sectional viewsimilar to theme illustrated in Fig. 3 showing an alternativeconstruction of my invention.

In algeneral way my invention comprises a suitable plow cooperating withwhich are means 1 for breaking or dlsintegrating the plowed. earth andseparating the quack grass with its roots from such earth as the machineadvances. A machine of this character is adapted to be drawn by horsesor driven by other suitable motive power, the parts being carried uponwheels which in turn serve to drive the separating means, although itwill be obvious that the parts requiring motion which are carried by themachine may be driven by any suitable actuating mechanism. In thedrawings A represents a suitable frame made ofangle-iron or any suitableform .of constructing material,-. said frame being provided with a pairof longitudinal side bars 2 and 3 suitably spaced apart. The forwardends 4 of these side bars incline downwardly and forwardly, the rearends resting substantially horizontally when the machine is in the actof plowing. The forward inclined ends of the frame carry a plow B andmold board C, these parts being secured together by means of rivets5'and fastened between the sidebars by bolts 6 thus serving to tie theforward ends of the bars on the frame together. The plow B is ofordinary construction and is provided with the usual point and aninclined cutting.

edge 7.

The main portion of the frame of the machine is mounted upon axles S,which are longitudinally spaced apart. The ends of these axles havegudgeons on which are suitably journaled drive wheels 9- of ordinaryconstruction. A clamp bar 10 which is secured to the axle by meansofbolts-11 serves to hold the side bars of thd frame on the axle. Theforward end of the frame is provided with converging arms 12 which aresec'uredto the reach 13. The forward-end of the reach is fastened to atransverse bar Ll, to the ends of which is journaled a crank axle 15.-The extremities of this axle are bent to form cranks 16 and gudgeons1'7.

These gudgeons are provided with traction wheels 18 which are ournaledthereon. The axle 15 carries a segment 19 and an opcrating lever 20 onthe cross bar 14 is adapted to adjust the height of the forward end ofthe machine by engaging the teeth of the segment and turning the axle 15to vary the angle of inclination of the cranks 16. The handle 21 of thelever 20 serves in the usual manner to engage and lock with the teeth ofthe segment to turn and hold the axle. The forward end of the reach 13is'ada'pted to carry a pole 22 to which the horses may be attached andits rear end carries a seat 23 for the driver.

Between the sides of the frame area pluralit of longitudinal rack barsD, the forward ends of which incline downwardly and the rear ends restsubstantiallyhorizontally. These rack bars are connected by means oftransverse tie rods 25 and their forward ends are pivoted at 26 to theframe. The rear ends of the rack bars rest upon a rack shaft 27 whichwhen revolvin serves to raise. and

lower the rear end 'of t e rack bars and to able construction '38 on theend of the rack shaft apply a substantially vertical racking movementthereto. '1" he rack shaft is journaled 111 the frame and connected by adifferential clutch 28 on each end to the sprocket pnnons 29 and 30.These inions Q9 and 30 are conof operation by hand and are connected bymeans of a rod 36 so that they are moved .simultaneously by a singleoperation. The le vers are fulcrumed upon brackets 37 which are carriedupon the frame. A springermits the clutches to release and differentiatemotion between the wheels. The particular means used'for differentiatingmotion between the wheels and driven arts may be of any suitesired andan suitable difi'erentiating clutch may be applied to this device foraccomplishing the results for which such clutches are used. The rackshaftalso carries a gear 39 which communi-' cates motion from thetransmission mechanism to parts to be hereinafter described.

.is an apron E comprising a pair of longitudinal link belts 40 and 41between which are transverse slats 42. These belts pass around pairs ofsprocket wheels t3 and slat respectively at the lower and upper ends ofthe frame, the lower sprocket wheels being mounted upon a shaft 45 andthe upper ones u on a shaft 416. The upper and lower laps o the apronpass around idle sprockets 47 and 48 journaled at or near the angle ofthe side bars, causing the upper lap of the apron to travel close to therack bars which oscillate immediately below it. The slats 42 areprovided with teeth 49 which with the slats serve to engage the earthand quack grass as it is received from the plow and mold board and toraise and advance them through the machine. The shaft 45 carries atransverse antifriction roller 50 which asslsts in causing the earth andgrass to pass from the mold board onto the apron. Motlon is communicatedfrom the rack shaft to the shaft 46 by means of the gear 51 which mesheswith the gear 39 and serves to move the. aprpn. At the delivery end ofthe apron 1s a-transverse'conveyer Fwhich has an endless belt; 52traveling around an idle roller 53' journaled on one side of the frameand a drive roller 54 which is jour 7 pro vided for throwing theclutches into and out naled upon the other side. This drive roller isactuated by means of intcrmeshmg bevel gears 55, one of which is carriedby the shaft 56 of the drive roller and the other by the shaft 46 of theapron. Immediately back of the transverse conveyer is a stop board 57,the lower end of which is mounted upon the frame and theupp'er endsupported by means of brace rods 58 which are attached to it and thesides of the frame.

Interposed between the transverse conveyer and the delivery end of theapron is a cleaning brush G which is carried by the shaft 59 journaledin the frame and revolved by means of sprockets 60 and a belt chain 61passing around said sprockets, one of said sprockets being mounted uponthe shaft 46. The brush revolves in the direction of the arrowsindicated in Fig. 8 and serves to clean the teeth of the belt and toconvey the quack grass from said belt onto said transverse conveyer fromwhich it is subsequently ejected to one side of the machine.

For the purpose of disintegrating the earth and retarding the progressthereof. until it is disintegrated, is provided a series of collectors Habove the apron. These collectors comprise transverse supporting bars 61which are" mounted by means of brackets 62 upon the sides of the framein an inclined direction as compared with the transverse slats oftheapron as shown. Each of these supporting bars carries a plurality ofdepending spring teeth 63 which serve to retard the progress of thegrass until all of the earth has been disintegrated-by the racking' barsfrom its roots and cause the grass to movetoward the rear of the machinein a continuous mass. These collectors produce eflicient results forlittle or no earth reaches the delivery end of the apron and the quackgrass is ejected from the machine in a compact mass, upon the transverseconveyor.

Depending below the frame of the machine is a deflector I in the form ofan in: clined board which is held upon the frame by means of suitablesupports such as indicated by v55. This deflector travels back of theplow and mold board and prevents-the earth from entirely closing thefurrow, leaving a narrow pathway for the innerwheel to travel below thesurface of the ground.

In operation, the front end of the machine is lowered so that the pointof the plow imeartlrand quack grass onto the rack bars.

which serve to disintegrate-the earth and loosen the roots of the quackgrass. The collectors above the belt press the quack grass down upon theapron and the earth uponthe rack bars, thus assisting in break in theearth away from the roots of the rass. The angle of inclination ofqlilmck ,t e col ector teeth and their resiliency permit the quack.grass to be carried by the apron until it egresses upon the transverseconveyer-F which delivers, the quack grass u on the ground at one sideof the machine. T e cleamng brush G assists in transferring the quackgrass from. the apron upon' the transverse conveyer and also cleans theteeth of thelapron. The earth isfthus disinte-' grated and separatedfrom the ro'otsof the quack 'rass' by the collectors and rack bars andfa ls below the frame of the machine upon the ground. The deflectorholds the disintegrated earth on one side of the furrow groove, thusleaving a path for the inner wheel of the machine to travel below thesurface of the ground. When it is not desired to plow by the machine thefront end of the frame is raised by the lever 20 and the plow-travelsabove the surface of the ground upon its wheels. p a

In the alternative construction shown in Fig. 4 the collectors aremovable and consist of a carrier belt 70 having transverse slats -71with teeth 72 depending from them. This carrier belt travels aroundpairs of sprockets 7 3 and MIwhich are mounted upon shafts 75 and 76,thelatter being journaled 11 ion suitable supports 77 on the frame. heshaft 76 is driven in the direction of the ar-. rows shown in Fig. 4 ata surface speed less than the surface speed of the apron E of themachine by means of a sprocket? 8 on the shaft 76, a drive sprocket 79on the rack shaft 27,. and a chain 80 traveling'around the sprockets 78and 79. In this manner the I earth is broken by the teeth of the apronand collectors and the quack grass removed upon the transverse conveyer.

In accordance with the patent statutes, I

have described the principle of operation of my invention, together withthe apparatus wh1ch I now consider to represent the best embodimentthereof, but I desire to have it understood that-the apparatus shown isonly illustrative andthat the invention can be carried out by othermeans and a plied to transverse support, collectors carried by saidsupport having spring'teeth depending, to

ward the upper lap of said apron, and actuat'ing mechanism; whereby, theplowed earth is raised on 'to said apron, the earth and grass arepressed down against the a ron" until all of the earth upon the rootshas con disintegrated, and the grass and roots thereof are forced pastsaidcollectors and ejected. 2. A quack grass plow, comprising, incombination, a frame having a substantially horizontal portion'and adownwardly inclined forward portion, a -plowcarried by said frame nearits forward extremit. an

apron conforming substantially to said rame back of said plow, rackingmechanism coacting with said apron, a series of collectors above theupper portion of said apron acting to press the earth and grass from theplow down a ainst the upper portion of said apron until the earth isdisintegrated by said racking mechanism, said apron being adapted tocarry the grass, past said collectors, and means for ejecting the grassfrom the machine after it is carried away from said collectors by saidapron.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES E. GLASSPOOLE.

Vitnesses:

' J. W. DAHLGREN,

H. L. FIsonER.

